Data retaining capsule



Oct. 6, 1964 R. slMoN 3,151,740

DATA RETAINING CAPSULE Filed July 25, 1962 United States Patent O 3,151,749 DATA RETAINING CAPSULE Reuben Simon, 4769 Town N Country Blvd., Tampa 3, Fia. Filed July 2S, 1962, Ser. No. 212,364 8 Ciairns. (Ci. 2%6-37) This invention relates to a capsule and more particularly to a container admirably suited for retaining and preserving vital information.

With the advent of the atom bomb and other nuclear weapons, it is generally recognized that nuclear warfare is a constantly present danger. In the case of nuclear Warfare, it has already been demonstrated that the damage indicted to property and persons is very extensive. With respect to persons, for example, it is likely that a nuclear blast would burn and otherwise mutilate many thousands of people beyond recognition. It thus becomes imperative for purposes of identication that each individual carry on his person personal data which would facilitate identication of such person in the event of a nuclear blast.

The problems with respect to carrying such personal information on the person of each individual are several. In the first place, such personal data must be retained in a condition where it is unlikely that it will be damaged when the person carrying such information is the victim of a nuclear blast. Furthermore, such information, in order to be of real assistance for identification purposes, in many instances would be of a highly coniidential type; that is, of a type where the person to which the information pertains would be unwilling to have others gain access to such information except for purposes of identitication.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a container in the form of a capsule which may be carried on the person and in which vital personal information can be safely and securely retained.

The capsule is furthermore designed such that once it is closed or sealed, it is almost impossible to open it without destroying it.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a capsule or container according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the container in closed or sealed condition.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the cap assembly for the container.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the body portion of the container.

FiG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5 5 in FIG. 4.

FG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 in FIG. 2.

The container of this invention is in the form of a capsule having a body portion 19 and a cap portion 12. The body portion is in the form of a metal tube having a cylindrical side wall 14 which is open at one end and closed at the opposite end by an end wall 16. Body portion may be formed as an extrusion in which case an apertured lug 18 is formed at the closed end thereof. Cap 12 in the embodiment illustrated is formed of three separate pieces, namely, an end 2t), a compressible rubber seal 22 in the form of an annular washer and a skirt 24. End 26 is formed with a circular head 26 and adjacent thereto, there is a shoulder 28 formed with a groove 3i). Adjacent the shoulder 28, the end 20 is formed with a cylindrical neck 32. The inner end of the head is enlarged relative to the neck 32 and externally threaded as at 34. Washer 22 is dimensioned to seat Within the groove formed by neck 32, the outer diameter of washer 22 being slightly greater than the diameter of the threaded portion 34.

CII

Skirt 24 is fashioned as a cylindrical sleeve having a uniform internal diameter dirnensioned to have a close telescopic lit with the outer surface of the side wall 14 of the body 1d. Skirt 24 is also adapted to telescope over shoulder 28 and is connected to end 20 by rolling a circumferential portion 36 into groove Sti. At its free end, skirt 2d is externally tapered as at 38 and adjacent thereto the skirt is provided with a shallow circumferentially extending groove 4t).

The wall of skirt 24 at groove 40 is fashioned with a pair of spring fingers 42, the skirt 24 itself being preferably ormed of a resilient material. The fingers 42 may be either sheared from the wall of the skirt or may be otherwise severed therefrom as by sawing. In any event, the spring fingers 42 are integrally connected at one end as at 44 with the wall of the skirt and the clearance space between the longitudinal edges 46 of the fingers and the adjacent longitudinal edges 4S of the skirt is very small and insufficient to accommodate a conventional prying tool such as a small screwdriver or the like. The free end of each iinger 42 is turned radially inwardly to form a detent 5i).

At the open end of body iti, the wall 14 thereof is internally threaded as at 52 for engagement with the threaded portion 3d of cap 12. The wall 14 of body portion 10 is also formed on the outer side thereof with a pair of diametrically opposite recesses 54 which are dirnensioned to receive the detents 5i) with a relatively close tit. The recesses 54 are formed in the wall 14 as embossments or as machined sockets. These recesses are spaced from the open end of body 1t) a predetermined distance such that when the cap is telescoped over the body 11i and threaded into engagement with the threads S2 so that the extreme free edge 56 of the body portion compresses seal 22, the detents 59 snap into engagement with the recesses 54.

With this arrangement, when the cap 12 is inserted over the end of body 19, the spring fingers 42 are initially camined radially outwardly by the engagement of the detents Sii with the annular edge 56 of the body. Thereafter, the cap is rotated to interengage the threaded portion 34 of the cap with the internally threaded section 52 of the body. The design is such, as pointed out above, that when the cap is threaded into the body a predetermined distance such that the seal 22 is compressed between the shoulder 2S and the annular edge 56 of the body 10, the detents 5d register with and snap into the recesses 54 on the outer surface of the body wall 14. In this condition, it is almost impossible to remove the cap from the body portion of the capsule. This is true because of the close iit of detents Si? in recesses 54, the lack of clearance between the longitudinal edges 46 of the spring lingers and the adjacent edges of the skirt 24, and because the solid threaded portion 34 of the cap prevents the end of the body portion closed by the cap from being collapsed bythe application of radial pressure thereto. Thus, when the owner of the capsule inserts the vital personal information within the capsule and closes the open end of the capsule by applying the cap 12 thereto in the manner described, the capsule is not only effectively sealed but it is permanently seaied as Well.

In order to remove the cap from the body portion of the capsule, it is virtually necessary to destroy the capsule. The user is therefore confident that after he seals the personal information within the capsule, it is next to impossible for any person to have access to that information without destroying the capsule. The user therefore knows that other persons cannot surreptitiously gain access to the information contained in the capsule and still leave the capsule intact. This will encourage the user to set forth in the data sheet in the capsule any highly personal or confidential information that he might Want to disclose in the event of his death but not otherwise.

The capsule may be carried on the person by stringing it on the users keychain, for example, by means of the apertured lug 18. If desired, a more or less conventional spring clip 5S may be utilized for carrying the capsule in much the same manner as a pen or a pencil. Spring clip 58 comprises a parted annular spring ring 60 having a close fit in groove 40 on skirt 24 with a spring shank 62. Spring clip 5S when retained in groove 40 further discourages any attempt to open the capsule once it has been sealed.

Thus, it will be seen that I have provided a capsule for containing vital personal information that simplifies the job of identification of casualties and fatalities which are bound to occur in the event of a nuclear war. The capsule is so designed that the data contained therein will be preserved from the elements and will be preserved in secrecy; that is, the user is confident that other persons cannot surreptitiously obtain access to this information without destroying the capsule.

I claim:

1. A capsule for safely and permanently retaining personal data comprising a tubular container of cylindrical form closed at one end and open at the other, said open end being internally threaded, a cap for closing said open end, said cap having a closed end portion and a circumferentially continuous skirt extending axially from said closed end portion, said skirt being dimensioned to have a close telescopic t over the open end of the tubular container, said cap having on the inside thereof an externally threaded solid plug adapted for threaded engagement with the internally threaded portion of the container, the radius of the plug being less than the internal diameter of the skirt by an amount equal to the wall thickness of the container, an annular seal in the cap located between said threaded plug and said skirt and adapted to engage and seal against the open end of the tubular container when the cap is fully threaded into the end of the container, said skirt having a pair of spring fingers formed therein and extending axially of the skirt, said fingers having radially inwardly projecting formations at their free ends, said tubular container having a pair of recesses in the outer surface thereof which are complementary in shape to said formations and in which the formations at the ends of the spring fingers are adapted to engage when the cap is threaded on the container to said sealed position, said formations and recesses being shaped to prevent disengagement of the formations from within the recesses when it is attempted to thread the cap off the container.

2. A capsule as called for in claim 1 wherein the free ends of the fingers extend axially beyond the threaded portion of the cap towards the open end of the skirt.

3. A capsule as called for in claim 1 wherein said spring fingers comprise leaf spring members.

4. A capsule as called for in claim 2 wherein the leaf spring members are integrally connected with the skirt adjacent said closed end portion of the cap and extend axially towards the open end of the skirt, the free ends of the leaf spring members terminating adjacent the open end of the skirt, said open end of the skirt being circumferentially continuous.

5. A capsule as called for in claim 4 wherein the portion of the skirt provided with said spring fingers is fashioned with an external circumferentially extending groove, said groove having an axial extent such that it overlies the free ends of the spring fingers and an annular, parted resilient band seated in the groove and having a close fit therein, said band overlying the free ends of said fingers.

6. A capsule as called for in claim 4 wherein said spring fingers are in part defined by side edges which extend axially of the skirt and which are spaced relatively close to the adjacent edges of the skirt whereby to render difficult the insertion of a prying tool between the longitudinal edges of the spring fingers of the adjacent edges of the skirt.

7. A capsule as called for in claim 5 wherein said band is formed with an axially extending spring clip.

8. A capsule as called for in claim 4 wherein the cap is provided with an apertured lug projecting axially from one end thereof.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,127,291 Schmidt Feb. 2, 1915 1,271,430 Bush July 2, 1918 1,541,515 Laraway June 9, 1925 1,707,841 Broadfoot Apr. 2, 1929 1,837,784 Luckett Dec. 22, 1931 2,044,251 McWilliams June 16, 1936 2,276,766 Dewitt Mar. 17, 1942 2,536,924 Fehling Jan. 2, 1951 2,813,289 Even Nov. 19, 1957 2,935,186 Clark May 3, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 335,941 Great Britain Oct. 3, 1930 

1. A CAPSULE FOR SAFETY AND PERMANENTLY RETAINING PERSONAL DATA COMPRISING A TUBULAR CONTAINER OF CYLINDRICAL FORM CLOSED AT ONE END AND OPEN AT THE OTHER, SAID OPEN END BEING INTERNALLY THREADED, A CAP FOR CLOSING SAID OPEN END, SAID CAP HAVING A CLOSED END PORTION AND A CIRCUMFERENTIALLY CONTINUOUS SKIRT EXTENDING AXIALLY FROM SAID CLOSED END PORTION, SAID SKIRT BEING DIMENSIONED TO HAVE A CLOSE TELESCOPIC FIT OVER THE OPEN END OF THE TUBULAR CONTAINER, SAID CAP HAVING ON THE INSIDE THEREOF AN EXTERNALLY THREADED SOLID PLUG ADAPTED FOR THREADED ENGAGEMENT WITH THE INTERNALLY THREADED PORTION OF THE CONTAINER, THE RADIUS OF THE PLUG BEING LESS THAN THE INTERNAL DIAMETER OF THE SKIRT BY AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE WALL THICKNESS OF THE CONTAINER, AN ANNULAR SEAL IN THE CAP LOCATED BETWEEN SAID THREADED PLUG AND SAID SKIRT AND ADAPTED TO ENGAGE AND SEAL AGAINST THE OPEN END OF THE TUBULAR CONTAINER WHEN THE CAP IS FULLY THREADED INTO THE END OF THE CONTAINER, SAID SKIRT HAVING A PAIR OF SPRING FINGERS FORMED THEREIN AND EXTENDING AXIALLY OF THE SKIRT, SAID FINGERS HAVING RADIALLY INWARDLY PROJECTING FORMATIONS AT THEIR FREE ENDS, SAID TUBULAR CONTAINER HAVING A PAIR OF RECESSES IN THE OUTER SURFACE THEREOF WHICH ARE COMPLEMENTARY IN SHAPE TO SAID FORMATIONS AND IN WHICH THE FORMATIONS AT THE ENDS OF THE SPRING FINGERS ARE ADAPTED TO ENGAGE WHEN THE CAP IS THREADED ON THE CONTAINER TO SAID SEALED POSITION, SAID FORMATIONS AND RECESSES BEING SHAPED TO PREVENT DISENGAGEMENT OF THE FORMATION FROM WITHIN THE RECESSES WHEN IT IS ATTEMPTED TO THREAD THE CAP OFF THE CONTAINER. 